Do you ever write an offer without seeing the property?

[Jiri B.]

How often do you write an offer for a home that you have not seen in person? Do you always just lowball hoping to find a seller that will take the bite? How often does that actually work and how low the offer was? Was the property sitting months on the market? I found this trend quite interesting but typically the outcome is that the real estate agent that writes those offers for you just stops working with you or you just get more realistic and end up writing more reasonable offers. It takes an hour or so to write an offer so I wonder, if you could just get the offer out by your self in few minutes, would that be something useful?

To be clear, I'm not saying lowball offers are bad, but when i see a property in hot market that was just listed and someone wants to submit offer 30% below asking price, while every single property in that location sells within 3 days over asking price, that just seems like waste of everyones time, but still, some investors (and usually new ones) want to still do that and get upset at Realtors if they don't want to work with them or write the offer for them.

Any investors here locally in Raleigh, Carry, Wake Forest, Knightdale, Durham etc that would be interested in being able to submit offers them self without even seeing the home? What would your strategy be if the offer gets accepted? Go and see the home and the get out if that is not what you wanted?

[Ivan Guillen]

As an investor, I have not wrote an offer on a property that I have not walked through. As a broker, I have had clients put in offers on properties that have not visited. This is mainly because they live out-of-state, and rely on me to be their boots on the ground. This is why having a strong team is important, because they can help you complete your due diligence and give new perspectives. 

The job of an investor is to determine the value of an asset, and attempt to acquire it at the lowest price possible. This is how you make money when you buy, instead of waiting until you sell. Offering too low though will likely upset the seller, and tarnish your chances of acquiring the property. It is important to be realistic when making an offer, and not waste anyone's time. 

Since I am local to Indianapolis, and have some investing experience under my belt I am able to help my clients set reasonable valuations on properties. If my client has unrealistic expectations and wants to offer very low, then I am straightforward and tell them the likelihood of their offer getting accepted is probably slim. This gives them reasonable expectations, and if they still want to put an offer in, I am not opposed to writing up a purchase agreement for them. At the end of the day, I could have missed something when evaluating the property, and I always keep their best interest in mind.

Hey, if the seller accepts the offer then its a win for my client and myself!